PSYCH 1XX3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13.4.2: Catatonia, Schizophrenia, Reduced Affect Display
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Schizophrenia is marked by disorganized thoughts and behaviour: difficult to find specific symptoms that are shared by all people with this diagnosis; instead, patients often have a combination of different types of symptoms. Most schizophrenic symptoms can be described as either positive or negative: positive symptoms are behaviours that increase in someone with schizophrenia. Communication abnormalities in individuals with schizophrenia are presumed to reflect an underlying inability to think in a logical manner. Disorganized motor behaviour may involve dramatic reductions in movement, classified as catatonic stupor. Conversely, there may be repeated, frantic motor movements that seem to have no purpose at all -- classified as catatonic excitement: negative symptoms are behaviours that decrease in someone with schizophrenia. Generally point to a decrease in the individual"s engagement with the outside world. Individual may become less interested in people and real world events, and more concerned with internal ideas or fantasies.